Gabriel Popescu (footballer)

Gabriel Popescu
Personal information
Date of birth (1973-12-25) 25 December 1973 (age 50)
Place of birth Craiova, Romania
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
0000–1992 Electroputere Craiova
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1994 Electroputere Craiova 65 (0)
1995–1997 Universitatea Craiova 93 (15)
1998 Salamanca 15 (4)
1998–1999 Valencia 25 (1)
1999 Numancia 7 (1)
2000 Dinamo București 9 (0)
2000–2001 National București 47 (5)
2001 → Universitatea Craiova (loan) 8 (1)
2002–2004 Suwon Samsung Bluewings 59 (12)
2004 → National București (loan) 11 (1)
2005 JEF United Chiba 7 (1)
Total 346 (41)
International career
1993–1995 Romania U21 3 (0)
1996–1998 Romania 15 (1)
Managerial career
2011 Sportul Studențesc
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gabriel "Gabi" Popescu (born 25 December 1973) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Career

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Popescu represented the Romania national team 15 times and scored one goal. The undoubted highlight of his international career was his appearances at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, where he played in all four Romanian matches, including their dramatic 2–1 victory over England.

Popescu began his career with Romanian side Universitatea Craiova, before moving to Spain where he played with three different La Liga clubs – UD Salamanca, Valencia CF and CD Numancia. After his Spanish spell he returned to Romania firstly with Dinamo București before joining city rivals National București. Popescu then joined Suwon Samsung Bluewings in June 2002, in a double deal that also saw Bosnian-born forward Slaviša Mitrović join the K-League club.

'Gabi', as he was known to Korean fans, made a great impression in the Suwon Samsung Bluewings midfield during his first season, scoring six times in his 24 appearances. He weighed in with another six strikes in the 2003 season to further endear himself to the Suwon Samsung Bluewings fans, but struggled with injury during the close season and was limited to a peripheral role during the first half of 2004.

Popescu was allowed to return to National București on a 6-month loan deal in the summer of 2004, where he linked up again with Slaviša Mitrović. At the end of the year, Popescu completed a switch to Japanese side JEF United Chiba.

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[1]
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Electroputere Craiova 1992–93 Divizia A 16 0 16 0
1993–94 33 0 33 0
1994–95 16 0 16 0
Total 65 0 65 0
Universitatea Craiova 1994–95 Divizia A 15 1 15 1
1995–96 30 2 30 2
1996–97 29 7 29 7
1997–98 19 5 19 5
Total 93 15 93 15
Salamanca 1997–98 La Liga 15 5 0 0 15 5
Valencia 1998–99 La Liga 25 1 6 0 31 1
Numancia 1999–2000 La Liga 7 1 7 1
Dinamo București 1999–2000 Divizia A 9 0 9 0
Naţional București 2000–01 Divizia A 18 1 18 1
2001–02 29 4 29 4
Total 47 5 47 5
Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2002 K-League 24 6 24 6
2003 31 6 31 6
2004 4 0 4 0
Total 59 12 59 12
Naţional București 2004–05 Divizia A 11 1 11 1
JEF United Chiba 2005 J1 League 7 1 0 0 7 5 14 6
Career total 338 41 6 0 7 5 351 46

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Romania 1996 4 0
1997 4 1
1998 7 0
Total 15 1
Score and result list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Popescu goal.
International goal scored by Gabriel Popescu
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 19 November 1997 Lluís Sitjar Stadium, Palma de Mallorca, Spain  Spain 1–1 1–1 Friendly

Honours

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Valencia

Dinamo București

Suwon Samsung Bluewings

JEF United Chiba

References

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  1. ^ Gabriel Popescu at National-Football-Teams.com
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